Hog hype

By Jill BarteltFor The Star Courier

Monday

Apr 16, 2018 at 8:54 PM

Marketing students pitch in todesign annual Hog Days pitch

Hog Days came early, this year—at least for some Kewanee High School students. The juniors and seniors in Casie Douglas’s marketing class recently developed the official tagline for the 2018 Hog Days event: “Don’t Go Bacon My Heart.”Each student also created a graphic. These were submitted to the Hog Days Committee, which chose the entry designed by Hailey Phelps.“The committee will be using this tagline and graphic for marketing materials from here on out,” said Douglas. This project was the joint creation of Douglas and KHS employee and Hog Festival Co-chairperson Larry Flannery. “I was impressed with the work the KHS Marketing Class had done,” said Flannery. “On a whim, I asked Casie Douglas if she and the class might be willing to create a tagline for the 2018 Hog Days event.”Douglas eagerly agreed. “I was excited about the project,” she said. “The students needed some background information before they could come up with a quality tagline, so I created a unit educating them on logo, slogan and tagline development. The unit included topics such as effective language, color schemes, and brand recognition.”The students learned much through this multi-faceted project, beginning with how to use computer-based design programs. “I gained valuable knowledge from working with Photoshop,” said Katie Vickrey.As they built technological skills, the students also exercised their creativity through experimenting with images, colors, design, and word-play. “Creativity is essential to marketing any event or product,” Elizabeth Gustafson noted.They even used a touch of psychology. “This project made us consider the different age groups that participate in Hog Days, since we wanted everyone to understand and appreciate the tagline,” said Gustafson.Perhaps more than anything else, though, the students found deeper appreciation for their town and its history.“It’s an honor to be part of something so important to Kewanee,” said Lizette Castillo. Courtney Welgat agreed: “I liked being involved with such a big event in our community.”The students took pride in being part of something larger than themselves. “This is a project that will continue outside the classroom,” said Carson Mallery.According to Flannery, the first tagline—“Three Cheers for 20 Years”—was created in 1973 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Hog Days event. Every year since, there has been a tagline. Examples include 1999 “Remember the Past. Look To the Future” and 1976 “The Oink Heard Round the World.”“Sometimes serious, patriotic, or comical, the tagline not only sums up the ‘feel’ of that year’s event but is also used by various groups in planning floats, t-shirts, or anything else tied in to Hog Days,” said Flannery.This year marks the first time that students have created the tagline.“I am truly proud of the ownership my students took in this project and the work ethic they showed,” said Douglas. “I’d like to thank Larry Flannery, the Hog Days Committee, and other Kewanee organizations for giving the KHS marketing students some real-world, hands-on experience that they will no doubt remember for years to come.”

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